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Asian stocks were steady as anxious investors await the results of the United Kingdom's EU referendum. Fed Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's cautious comments on possible rate hikes also toned down the mood in financial market.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.1% while Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.7%. U.S. S&P Index rose 0.27% but was still under the 11-month high reached earlier this June. The Pound jumped as high as $1.4788 on Tuesday but slid back to $1.4667 during early Asian Trade. The Euro also dropped to $1.1250 compared to this week's peak of $1.1383 on Monday.

The pound continues to be well bid in light of the most recent opinion polls' outcomes. EUR/GBP has slipped below the 78% Fibo level and is currently trading around 0.7645 levels.

Resistances on the upside align at 0.7656 (78.6% Fib of 0.7565 to 0.80 rally) ahead of 5-DMA at 0.77.

On the downside supports are seen at 0.7617 (Jan 21st low), 0.76 and then 0.7568 (200-DMA). Market sentiment could be volatile in the lead up to the vote and recent moves on currency markets remain vulnerable to swings/reversals. ​

The Japanese manufacturing activity condensed in June based on an primary survey, but uncertainties persist on declining exports and supply chain interruptions due to earthquake.

Japan Flash Manufacturing PMI by Markit/Nikkei closed at 47.8 this month from 47.7 in May. The initial index for new orders touched 45.8 in June from 44.7 in the previous month.

Markit said the earthquakes in April have negatively impacted the PMI. It added employment slid to its lowest in nine months into growth, indicating additional stimulus may be necessary to boost the economy.

Results are coming out and some of them are a shocker. Newcastle was expected to be a stronghold for the “Remain” camp and was expected to provide somewhere around 12 percentage points lead to the “Remain” camp, instead, it was a very narrow lead in favor of the “Remain”. With 68 percent turnout, 65,504 people voted in favor of staying in the Union, while 63,598 favored going out. Newcastle was able to give a lead of only 1.4 percentage points to the “Remain” camp.

With such setbacks, it’s not going well for the “Remain” camp. According to latest figure, authorities have so far declared results in 184 local authorities and 188 are still remaining. It is not all looking good for the “Remain” camp. “Leave” camp is leading with 52 percent in their favor.

The pound has been declining fast after Newcastle shocker. Currently trading at 1.364 against the dollar, down more than 6 percent. The yen is up more than 3 percent trading at 101.3. S&P 500 is down 3.9%.

U.S. stock index futures dropped in after-hours trading as preliminary results from Britain's referendum to stay or leave the EU showed a lead for supporters of a British Exit or Brexit.

S&P E-mini futures was down 0.8% as early tally showed 52.6% of the vote for the “leave" camp and 47.4% for the “stay" camp. Sterling plunged down to $1.4351 against the greenback, erasing its earlier gains which elevated the pound its peak of beyond $1.50 this year after polls indicate that Britons had 52-48% to remain in the EU bloc. Futures on the VIX .VIX volatility index climbed 1.02 pts. to 17.7 as anxiety among investors increase.

USD/JPY is currently trading around 102.34 marks. It made intraday high at 102.47 and low at 101.50 levels. Intraday bias remains bullish till the time pair holds key support at 101.48 marks. A sustained close below 101.50 will drag the parity down towards key supports at 100.98, 99.27 and 98.82 levels respectively. Alternatively, a daily close above 103.45 is required to take the parity higher towards key resistances around 104.80, 106.12 and 107.46 levels respectively. Today is relatively calm session at the start of the new week. Markets expect range bound movement for the day.

Oil prices fell almost a percent on Monday, continuing distinct declines after the United Kingdom's vote to exit the EU triggered a significant selloff in global markets on Friday in order to avoid risks.

London Brent crude declined 24 cents at $48.17 a barrel on Sunday from the $48.41 on Friday. NYMEX crude fell 26 cents at $47.38 a barrel after settling at $2.47 or 4.9% on Friday. The decline of the British pound during early Asian trading on Monday also added pressure to oil prices as investors struggle to determine the next step after the Brexit.

Ataturk Airport, the largest in Turkey and third busiest airport in the world, was the target of suicide bombers on Tuesday. Witnesses testified seeing 3 gunmen who opened fire to the people before setting off explosives.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that a total of 31 were killed while 150 got wounded as a result of the attack. No group is claiming responsibility for the bombing yet, but police sources say that evidences point out to the Islamic State. This is because the same incident showed semblance to the attack that happened in Brussels airport on March 16.

Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile has expressed that terrorism nowadays has no regard on faith and values since the bombing took place during the Ramadan.

The country has suffered from a series of attack just this year. It included two car bombings in Ankara and two suicide attacks in Istanbul. Turkey is known to be actively fighting the Islamic State and Kurdish militants.

Business confidence in New Zealand improved markedly in June, the latest survey from ANZ showed on Thursday with an index score of 20.2.
That's up from 11.3 in May.
The activity outlook jumped to 35.1 from 30.4 in the previous month.
The survey's inflation forecast came in at 1.49 percent - up from 1.39 percent a month earlier.